For the industrial treatment of objects, in particular vehicle bodies or parts thereof, in which it is necessary to move large numbers of units, it is preferable to use such devices in which the objects are guided continuously or discontinuously through the treatment chamber with the aid of a conveying apparatus. Such devices have a high capacity and can be readily integrated in a production line. A treatment can be for example a painting treatment or a drying treatment.
The walls of the treatment chamber, which in the present case refer both to side walls as well as a bottom wall and a top wall, separate the external atmosphere from the internal atmosphere of the treatment chamber and, in particular, prevent the escape of any applied treatment medium and/or heat from the treatment chamber. The wall having the gap can be such a wall of the treatment chamber. However, it can also be a wall of a housing of some other assembly which is arranged in the treatment chamber. For example, the wall can belong to the housing of a cover for a guideway on which an application robot is moved. The housing then also covers drive components of this robot, for example, in order to protect them from the influence of the atmosphere of the treatment chamber.
The treatment medium can be a treatment fluid, as is for example is the case when painting objects or in preparation processes for painting. However, without any further measures, it is essentially possible for gases and vapours, such as those which may be present for example in driers or spray booths, to also escape from the treatment chamber. In spray booths, fluid or powder mists, for example, should moreover also be kept from the environment of the treatment chamber.
The walls of the treatment chamber should moreover also prevent contamination from the outside from penetrating into the treatment chamber.
The apparatus of which at least one component extends through the gap in the wall into the treatment chamber can be for example a treatment apparatus and in this case, for example, a multi-axle application robot, such as is known per se. A robot of this type comprises electrical lines and fluid lines which are guided as a line bundle from the outside into the treatment chamber to the robot arm and follow this latter during a movement. The robot arm guides an application apparatus, for example a spray gun or a rotary atomiser, at the end which is located inside the treatment chamber.
It is also optionally possible for the robot arm itself to be that component which extends from outside the treatment chamber to through the gap into the treatment chamber, whilst the drive component of the robot—for example, amongst other things, carriage which can be moved parallel to the wall and has corresponding motors—is arranged on the other side of the wall.
The apparatus of which at least one component extends through the gap in the wall into the treatment chamber can, for example, also be a conveying apparatus. In this case, it is ensured in particular that those elements of the conveyor from which contaminants can possibly emanate, in particular the drive components, are arranged outside the treatment chamber. To carry the objects, possible conveyors must have a carrying arm which penetrates through the wall of the treatment chamber and on which the objects can be fastened at its end which is located in the treatment chamber. The gap in the wall of the treatment chamber is provided for this purpose, which gap extends along the movement path of the conveyor and is closed except for the special sealing arrangement. In a conveying apparatus of this type, the carrying arm is therefore the component defined above, which extends from outside the treatment chamber through the gap into the treatment chamber and can be moved along the gap.
In known devices of the type mentioned at the outset, in which, accordingly, the sealing arrangement can open locally in the region of the carrying arm, resilient sealing lips are frequently used as sealing arrangements, which sealing lips surround the carrying arm from two opposing sides and are intended to abut loosely against one another where the carrying arm of the conveying apparatus is not located.
However, the reliability of such sealing lips is not always ensured. In particular, where the carrying arm is not located, it is possible that clearances will remain between the sealing lips, through which unwanted impurities can arrive in the treatment chamber or the atmosphere can reach the outside from the treatment chamber.
Another such treatment device is described in DE 198 48 946 C2. In this, the sealing arrangement comprises a plurality of adjacently arranged, segment-like sealing elements which overlap one another in the lateral direction and are pivoted about pivot axes for a carrying arm of a conveying apparatus to pass through. However, this solution is mechanically very complex. DE 192 49 243 B1 instead discloses the use of resiliently deformable flexible lamellae for sealing the carrying arm of a conveying apparatus. However, this is also structurally very complex due to the number of individual parts.
The term “seal” does not necessarily refer to a hermetic sealing of the adjacent regions in the present case. The aim is to seal the gap to an acceptable residual permeability, which can vary from installation to installation. The outside region can optionally be acted upon by an overpressure so that it is more difficult for the atmosphere of the treatment chamber to escape outside through the sealing arrangement.